Key retainer

ABSTRACT

A TWO KEY RETAINER OR THE LIKE HELD TOGETHER BY MAGNETIC ATTRACTION AND MECHANICAL FRICTION.

Nov 23, 1971 w rr 3,621,690

KEY RETAINER Filed April 15, 1970 U.S. Cl. 70-456 R 7 Claims ABSTRACT OFTHE DISCLOSURE A two piece key retainer or the like held together bymagnetic attraction and mechanical friction.

This invention relates to a key retainer and/or keys retainer and/ oritems retainer.

More particularly it relates to a two part key and/or keys retainer inwhich one part is male and a second part is female, so made that the twopieces may be easily separated or readily placed together so that a keyor other item may be placed on one of the separate pieces and used onthat piece or Where the two pieces may be placed together with a key oritem on only one of the two pieces of the device or where two keys ortwo items may be placed on the device, one on either the male or femalepart of the device so that the keys or other items may be usedseparately or readily placed together or where more than one key or oneitem may be on either the male or female part of the device or on bothpieces of the retainer when they are placed together or where keys oritems may be separated by means of a key retainer as one key and no key,as one key and one key, as one key and several keys or as several keysand several keys.

The novelty of this invention is the way in which the two parts of thedevice, a male and a female part, are held together by the mechanicalfriction of one part with the other part and/or by the magneticattraction of one part with the other part with sufiicient energy tohold the male and female pieces together until they are pulled apart.

Further novelty is in this invention through the Way in which the malepart is readily separated from the female part through a single actionby merely pulling the two pieces apart with sufficient energy to causethem to disengage one from the other.

The foregoing indicates that one of the objects of my invention is toprovide a device that may be used as a keyholder whereby any one or morekeys connected with the keyholder may be readily separated from anotherkey or group of keys on either of the two pieces of the device.

While the following statement is not intended to limit this invention, adescription of use may well be seen in the rapid separation of anautomobile ignition key with one piece of the device from another key orkeys on a second piece of the device, the ignition key thus beingleft inthe automobile while other keys of locked glove compartments, trunks,etc. may be kept by the auto driver to prevent losses from the lockedspaces.

A further novel object of this invention is to provide a method forkeeping two parts of this device together so that a key and a key or agroup of keys and a group of keys on the two parts, the male and femaleportions, of the device may be kept together with sufficient magneticforce and/or constraining force of mechanical pressure and friction tohold the two parts together until such time as they may be intentionallyseparated by pulling them apart.

Uniqueness is displayed in this invention by the particular way in whichthe magnets of this invention are United States Patent ice controlled soas to float forward under spring pressure and by magnetic attractiontoward a center line only so far as a provided restrictive device allowsthem to move. Subsequently they will be pressed away from the centerline as the male plug of the device is placed into the female part.

These and other objects of my invention which will be pointed out inmore detail hereinafter, I accomplish by that certain construction andarrangement of parts of which I shall now describe exemplaryembodiments:

Reference is made to the drawings forming a part hereof;

FIG. 1 is a cut away drawing of the female part of this device.

FIG. 2 is an open top view of the female part of the device showing theparticular parts by that view.

FIG. 3 is a drawing of the male part of the invention.

FIG. 4 shows the appearance of the device when closed.

Reference is now made to FIG. 1 where 1 is a conventional ball chaincomplete with an opening link so that keys may be added thereon or takenaway. 2 is a cap for the female part of the key holder and includes acylinder that extends over the parts of this piece of the holder. 3 is adisc made of non-magnetic plastic or other material unattracted in amagnetic field placed above the magnets to hold them in place at thatpoint. 4 is an opening provided through both sides of the cap so that aball chain might be inserted therethrough. 5 is a non-magnetic ringinstalled at the bottom of the device to hold the magnets in place atthat point. 6 are the two pieces of floating permanently magnetizedmetal each surrounded at the back, on two sides and at each end withnonmagnetic metal or other nonmagnetic material leaving the innermostare or surface of each magnet exposed so that the magnetism of eachinside magnetic are or surface might be utilized. 7 indicates a metalspring leaf of which there are two, the central portion of which isinserted into a squared indentation that extends the length of themagnet adjacent to or at the back median line of each of the movablemagnets farthest from the center of the female part and adjacent to andagainst the cylinder wall. 8 indicates a weld or other fixing means tohold the spring at the top while the other end of the spring is loose,allowing it to adjust to the movement of the polygon shaped magnets asthe male part of this device is inserted into or removed from the femalepart so as to cause the polygon shaped magnetized steel pieces to expandapart or to contract together. 9 indicates the non-magnetic covering ofthe surfaces of three sides and at each end of each magnet. Thesenon-magnetic surfaces therefore do not interfere with the work of theexposed, permanently magnetized surfaces adjacent to the center of thefemale part of this device.

Refer now to FIG. 2; a top viewof the female part of this inventionwhere 6 indicates the floating magnets with indentations shown at therear of each. 7 shows the springs from this view. 10 indicates the fournonmagnetic extensions attached to the magnets and that run the fulllength of each magnet on either side and act as guides in holding themovable magnets in place. 11 illustrates two T angle bars that areopposite each other and that extend to approximately the same length asthat of each magnet. Said T bars being attached for the full length oftheir bases to the inside of the cylindrical body 2.

Referring now to FIG. 3;

12 is a cylindrical rod rounded on the end and made of steel so as to bereadily attracted by the magnetic fields between the two magnets. 13 is:a disc attached directly to the male rod of this device. 14 is a capattached directly to disc 13. 15 is a ball chain complete with anopening link and 16 is a hole through both sides of the cap so that thechain might be inserted therein.

FIG.,4 is an illustration of the closed key retainer with each partsecurely held together by mechanical friction and/or by magneticattraction.

The key retainer that I have described, then, is a two piece keyretainer, the two parts of which may be held together by mechanicalfriction of one part with the other or which may be held by the magneticattraction of one part for the other or by a combination of mechanicalfriction and magnetic attraction with both forces applied at the sametime.

While the illustrations and writings indicate the two magnets aslongitudinal cubic polygon arcs and the male portion as a round andcylindrical rod, these dimensional illustrations are not intended tolimit the spirit of my invention since the metal pieces indicated inFIGS. 1 and 2 as No. 6 may Well be formed as rectangular, square orother shaped polygons, while the male portion of FIG. 3 No. 12 mightWell be shaped of rectangular, square or other shaped polygons easilyinserted into the female portion of the device by means of a rounded,pointed, pyramidal or other end shape to sufficiently reduce the endsize for easy insertion of the part.

While the illustrations and writing indicate that the two magnets ormetal pieces indicated in FIGS. 1 and 2 as No. 6 receive theirmechanical pressure from leaf type metal springs illustrated in FIGS. 1and 2 as No. 7, these springs are not intended to limit the spirit of myinvention since the mechanical pressure might well be accomplished byuse of properly spaced and anchored coil springs.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desireto secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A two piece device wherein one piece and its constituents form a malepart and wherein a second piece and its constituents form a female partand wherein two members of the female part are longitudinal, cubic,arced polygons, each of which are magnetized with the magnetic fieldbeing exposed on each at an inner surface only while all other surfaces,two ends and three sides are surrounded by non-magnetic material placeddirectly on the polygons, said two polygons are held in place by arestrictive piece adjacent to the top of the body that contains themovable polygon members of the female piece and wherein the said twopolygons are held in place at the bottom or opening of the female pieceby a restrictive peripheral shelf leaving an aperture sufiiciently largeto accommodate insertion of a rod on the male part, these saidrestrictions at both top and bottom being spaced so that they allow freemovement of each of the polygon shaped magnets toward a common center,this movement of each of the magnets being guided by non-magneticextensions on either side of each of them for the full length of thepolygon shaped magnets said extensions beyond either side of each magnetbeing great enough to go behind the top bar of a T of which there aretwo attached opposite each other onto the inside wall of the outsidebody of the female piece of this device, said T being long enough toextend a length equal to that of each magnet and here the aforementionedextensions of the two polygon shaped magnets go behind either side ofthe head of the two T bars which restrict and guide both the springpropelled, floating magnets which are so restricted that the springpressure at the back of each of them cannot push them too close togetherand so that the aperture between the two magnets when forced mostclosely together will be great enough for easy insertion of the rod ofthe male piece of this device, thus the floating, magnetized,longitudinal, cubic arced polygons are restricted from coming togetherand come only close enough so that the male piece of the device may beeasily inserted between the magnets where they then exert pressure oneither side of the male rod so that the mechanical friction along withmagnetic attraction may hold the two pieces together until they arepulled apart.

2. A two piece key retainer, or the like, composed essentially of afemale part and a male part, said male part includes a cylindrical rodrounded at the top for easy insertion into the female part and made ofhighly attractable metal when in a magnetic field, said female partsurrounded by a cylinder that encloses around the sides of the device ofthe female constituents and with means for attaching keys to either themale or female parts and whereby both the male and female parts andtheir constituents may be held together by magnetic attraction createdby two longitudinal, cubic polygon arcs in the female part, each beingsufficiently magnetized so that their respective magnetic fields haveenough attraction to hold the rod of the male part when it is insertedbetween the two magnets of the female part and whereby the male and thefemale parts may further be held together by mechanical friction createdby the said two cubic polygons in the female part being forced toward acenter line of the device through pressure created by a curved metalleaf spring inserted behind each at a point furthest from the center ofthe female part, the central curved portion of each spring leaf beinginserted into a squared indentation that extends for the length of eachdescribed magnetic polygon at the back median line of each of thesemovable magnets farthest from the center of the female part and onlyadjacent to the outside cylinder wall at the curved portion of thespring leaf and against the cylinder wall at the top Where said springleaf is welded to the inside of the cylinder wall at the top and wherethe spring leaf is against the cylinder wall at the springs extremeother end but where it is unwelded and free to move in order that thecurved portion of the spring at the rear of each cubic arced polygonexerts spring pressure and causes the polygon to press forward againstthe male rod of the device when it is inserted to create mechanicalfriction and close magnetic attraction to hold the two parts of thedevice together until greater energy is exerted to pull them apart.

3. A two part device with means for attaching keys or the like to eitherof the parts, wherein one part and its constituents form a male part andwherein the second part and its constituents form a female part andwherein the male part includes a cap and means for attaching keys andthe like to it and further includes a cylindrical steel rod rounded onthe far end from the cap so that the rod may readily be inserted intothe female part and wherein the female part is constituted of a cap andmeans for attaching keys and the like along with a cylinder thatsurrounds the female internal parts and forms a cover therefor andwherein two members of the female part are longitudinal cubic polygonsarced on the entire length of each of their innermost surfaces to allowsnug fitting of the cylindical rod of the male part when it is insertedinto the female part whereupon the male rod is held firmly between thetwo longitudinal cubic arced polygons by mechanical friction created byarched, tempered metal spring leaves of which there are two placedopposite each other inside the cylinder of the female part and eachfixed in place at the top by a weld while the far end of each spring isloose, and while the arched portion of each tempered spring fits into asquared indentation that runs the length of each polygon at the backmedian line of each, allowing it to adjust to the movement of thepolygon shaped female pieces as the male part is inserted into thefemale part or removed therefrom so that by way of such movement and byway of the spring tension on each of the arced polygons as the rod isinserted to spread the two polygons apart from each other and whereuponthe snug fit of the male rod into the two arced polygons and thetempered spring pressure is more than sufiicient to hold the piecestogether by mechanical pressure and friction.

4. A two part key retainer in which one part is male and a second partis female, the male part being made of a cap with means for attachingkeys thereto and of an elongated cylindrical, magnetically attractablesteel rod having the far end from the cap rounded to allow easyinsertion in order to enter the female part and having a female partmade of a cap with means for attaching keys thereto and of a cylindricaloutside body extending to a non-magnetic ring installed internally inthe outside cylinder adjacent to the bottom thereof and farthest fromthe cap to which the cylinder is attached at the top said nonmagneticring holding in place two pieces of floating permanently magnetizedmetal which form longitudinal cubic polygon arcs, each surrounded at theback and on two sides and at each end with non-magnetic material leavingthe innermost arced surface of each magnet exposed so that the magnetismof each inside are might be utilized to attract and hold in placed theattractable steel rod of the male part when it is inserted between thetwo longitudinal cubic polygon arcs in the female part each beingsufficiently magnetized so that their dual magnetic fields occurring intheir entire length have sufiicient magnetic attraction to hold the rodof the male part when it is inserted, said attraction being furtheraided by the close tolerance between the two arcs in the polygons andthe rod which they surround and by the close proximity be tween the maleand female parts created by pressure of two tempered leaf springsattached to the cylinder adjacent to the top thereof and curved tocreate pressure from the weld to their far end where they are free tomove as pressure is applied against them or removed from them, saidsprings at their curved portion being inserted into squared slots thatextend the length of the two magnetic longitudinal cubic polygon arcs ata point farthest from the center of the female part, thus thecylindrical steel rod of the male part fitting snugly into the arcs ofthe female part and most closely fitting by reason of spring pressure asdescribed is additionally held in placed by magnetic attraction so thatkeys and the like on either end of this device may be attached togetheror easily separated for use.

5. A two piece key retainer comprising a male piece that has a capthrough which is attached a ball chain with opening and closure so thatkeys may be attached thereon and extending from the cap is a cylindricalmetal rod highly attractable to a magnetic field and said key retaineris further composed of a female part with a cap of the same diameter asthat of the male part and also with means for retaining keys, said capincluding a cylinder that extends over inside parts of the female partand a non-magnetic ring said ring holding in place two arced,magnetized, longitudinal polygon magnets, each surrounded at the back,on two sides and at each end with nonmagnetic material so that only themagnetized innermost arcs of each of the magnets are exposed, the twomagnets being concave arced on the inside and convex curved on theoutside, said magnets having a squared notch at the outermost centerpart of each convex arc to accommodate an arched spring leaf that isattached to the top inside of the forementioned cylinder by a weld andwhich is free at its furthermost end to allow free movement as pressureis applied when the rod of the male part is forced into the female partto separate the two arced, magnetized, longitudinal, polygon magnets,whereby the easy entrance of the male rod between the magnets thenon-magnetic ring at the bottom of the forementioned cylinder of thefemale piece forms a restrictive peripheral shelf with an openingsufliciently large to accommodate insertion of the male rod whereuponeven though under spring pressure the two polygon magnets are held inplace and guided by non-magnetic extensions on either side of each ofthem for their full length, said extensions beyond either side of themagnets being great enough to go behind the top bar of a T of whichthere are two attached opposite each other onto the inside wall of theoutside body or cylinder of the female piece, said T being long enoughto extend the length of each magnet and the aforementioned extensions ofthe two polygon shaped magnets go behind either side of the head of thetwo T bars which restrict and guide both the spring propelled, floatingmagnets which are so restricted that the spring pressure at the back ofeach of them cannot push them so close together that the aperturebetween the two magnetic polygons when forced most closely together willstill be great enough for easy insertion of the male rod for its fulllength whereupon the cap of the male part will fit against the bottom ofthe female cylinder to close the device, thus the floating, magnetizedlongitudinal arced polygons are so controlled as to allow easy insertionof the male rod into the two arcs of the magnets whereupon the twofloating spring impelled magnets exert pressure on either side of themale rod so that the snug fit of the arcs pressured against the sides ofthe magnetically attractable metal of rod by tempered leaf springpressure against the magnets so that very positive mechanical frictionalong with magnetic attraction is combined together as contrived to forma machine that will retain keys on either of its two pieces and holdthem together until sufficient energy is exerted to pull them apart.

6. A two piece device wherein one piece and its constituents form a malepart and wherein a second piece and its constituents form a female partand wherein two members of the female part are magnetized longitudinalcubic polygons concave arced on their innermost surface and convex arcedon their most outer surfaces and include squared slots that extend thelength of each magnet at a point farthest from the center of the femalepart to accept a curved portion of a spring leaf so installed that itsspring pressure Will push the magnets toward the center of the device tohold a rod of said male part when said rod is inserted between the twoarced magnets with the magnetic field being exposed on each at the innerconcave arced surface only while all other surfaces, two ends and threesides are surrounded by non-magnetic material placed directly on thepolygons, said two polygons are held in place by a restrictive pieceadjacent to the top of the body that contains the movable polygonmembers of the female piece and wherein the said two polygons are heldin place at the bottom of the female piece by a restrictive peripheralnon-magnetic shelf leaving an aperture sufiiciently large to accommodateeasy insertion of the male rod, these said restrictions at both top andbottom being spaced so that they allow free movement of each of themagnets being guided by non-magnetic extensions on either side of eachof them for the full length of the polygon shaped magnets saidextensions beyond either side of each magnet being great enough to gobehind the top bar of a T of which there are two attached opposite eachother onto the inside wall of the outside body of the female piece ofthis device, said T being long enough to extend a length equal to thatof each magnet and here the aforementioned extensions of the two polygonshaped magnets go behind either side of the head of the two T bars whichrestrict and guide both the spring propelled, floating magnets which areso restricted that the spring pressure at the back of each of themcannot push them too close together and so that the aperture between thetwo magnets when forced most closely together will be enough for easyinsertion of the cylindrical rod of the male piece which is also roundedon the end for further ease of insertion, thus the floating, permanentlymagnetized longitudinal cubic arced polygons are restricted from comingtogether and come only close enough so that the male rod of the devicemay be easily inserted into the inner concave arcs of the magnets wherethey then exert pressure on either side of the male rod so that themechanical friction created by close fitting arcs of the polygons aroundthe rod and by spring pressure exerted on each of the polygons alongwith their magnetic attraction hold the two pieces together as describedand whereby at the same time an item or items attached to a holdingmeans on the male part may be held together with an item or itemsattached to the holding means on the female part and whereby the item oritems on either of the parts may be separated by merely pulling apartthe male piece from the female piece.

7. A two piece device, each piece containing a cap to which is attachedmeans for holding intrinsic or extrinsic materials and means for holdingthe two pieces together whereupon items held would be on either end ofthe device when the two pieces are placed together by inserting anelongated, magnetic attractable metal rod of one piece into the secondpiece between two movable permanent magnets that have concave arcs ontheir innermost sides to snugly fit the rod when it is inserted andwherein the magnets are further aided to snugly fit the rod for 80% to100% of its entire length by pressure centralized at the rear of themagnets by a tempered leaf spring that is contracted by force when therod of the first piece of the device is inserted between the magnets ofthe second piece, then the snugly fitting elongated magnets by theirattraction in close proximity with the metal rod holds the two piecestogether so that two snugly fitting elongated, concave arced magnetssnugly fitting said rod and applying its magnetism thereto holding thetwo pieces of the described device together so that the two pieces maythen keep together intrinsic or extrinsic materials on each end of thisdevice until the two pieces are pulled apart.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS

